Pat Bates spent 20 years with various federal economic development agencies, including five years as vice-president of ECBC, serving as its first CEO when it was established in the late 1980s.

“I think that there were other ways that they could have adjusted the mandate and the structure of ECBC if they were dissatisfied with the present operation,” he said in an interview.

“I think they could have fixed ECBC without killing it.”

Bates was reacting to the recent decision by the federal government to move to decommission ECBC and have the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency directly deliver its economic development programming in Cape Breton and Mulgrave.

Recent scuttlebutt around ECBC suggested that the problems related to CEO John Lynn, who is currently on leave and the subject of federal ethics and conflict of interest investigations. Lynn continues to be paid and his contract is due to expire next year.

Bates noted the CEO position is filled by orders-in-council.

“Which means, generally speaking, that a person is appointed by that method serves at pleasure, in other words, the one shareholder for ECBC is the government of Canada, so the government of Canada, their representatives, could have dealt with that,” Bates said.

In addition to the controversies surrounding Lynn, there was criticism of ECBC’s funding of the Ben Eoin Marina and its purchase of the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club property.

But Bates noted there was no criticism of ECBC’s bookkeeping or any allegations of fraudulent activity.

“They could have readjusted the board, if they wanted a more effective board of directors,” Bates said.

There will be a lot of work associated with the transition to ACOA just as there was when ECBC was established and took over the former Cape Breton Development Corp. properties, he said.

Public Works and Government Services Canada will take on ECBC’s extensive property portfolio and it remains to be seen what it will decide to do with properties such as residential subdivisions.

ACOA Minister Rob Moore has said the budget that would have been allocated to Cape Breton under ECBC will remain, but Bates noted that will likely be partially used to cover the costs associated with taking on ECBC properties and not necessarily directed to economic development efforts.

“I would be anxious to know if that’s going to be additional costs to be drawn down from the ECBC budget,” he said.

Ottawa is interested in cutting costs and maximizing revenues, so it’s unlikely they’ll want to incur new costs under Public Works to take on ECBC properties, Bates said.

When ECBC took over the former Devco properties, a review was conducted to see what needed to be retained to implement its economic development mandate, which saw properties such as Cabot House and the Dundee Resort sold off.

“Whether that approach will be taken this time, I don’t know,” Bates said.

Public Works may not be interested in taking on ownership of the Ben Eoin Marina, which ECBC took ownership of to protect its $4-million investment, but the problem is it likely wouldn’t get much for it if it went up for sale, he said.

“Nobody would likely want to spend what they have been alleged to have spent, $4 million, to create that,” Bates said. “They may keep it, that’s an option, but I’d be very surprised. They may try to lease it out.”

The group which proposed the marina currently leases it for $1 a year. But the Ben Eoin development also involved a residential subdivision and Bates said he doesn’t believe Ottawa would want to be involved in a housing project.

The funding flexibility that ECBC had was a good feature, but it had to be exercised responsibly.

“Some would argue that (Ben Eoin) wasn’t a responsible decision but I’m not making that judgment,” Bates said.

There may not be much known about how the property transfers will proceed until the end of the year, he said.

With word that Ottawa will also axe ACOA’s board of directors, there is a large question about the future of that agency, Bates said. Its membership had dwindled to only a couple of members in recent years.

“The deal is done here, there’s no good protesting it, we might as well put out energies into how do we make the best of the new situation,” he said.

ECBC would have been an important instrument in trying to deal with the concerns outlined in the recent Ivany report detailing provincial decline, Bates said.

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Cape Nothing

March 31, 2014 - 19:11

When I marvel at the playgrounds filled with kids, shops bursting at the seems, malls packed, streets filled with parked cars and people walking, people eating lunch at food trucks, happy babies in strollers going by and the business of life with people laughing and sense of optimism in the air I feel proud. Too bad this is fantasy. You big-shots had 30 years to turn this place around and accomplished squat. Cape Breton will turn into a ghost town. Really tired with the $100k+ crowd political hacks telling us "it's turning around". Any foll with a brain can see it isn't. Stop the PR bull$h!t.

The folks that were at the trough for years yearn for ECBC to continue. It is shameful that The Cape Breton Post drags this old hack out of retirement to lecture us about the economy. How many decades does someone have to fail at something before you realize they are just another hack bloodsucker at the trough.